Smokeless orchard heater



Jan. 10, 1928.

W. C. SCHEU SROKELESS ORCHARD HEATER Filed June 21. 1 926 I v v h i 5 I.

Patented Jan. 10, 1928.

UNITED STATES WILLIAM C. SCHEU, OF UPLAND, CALIFORNIA.

SMOKELESS ORCHABD HEATER.

, Application filed June 21, 1926. Serial No. 117,297.

This invention relates to orchard heaters, and one of the principalobjects is to rovide a construction of louver type stac in which thelouvers will not burn out as readily as in constructions heretofore usedor proposed. This result is obtained by providing a greater area withinthe burning chamber and a larger area of radiating surface for a givenamount of heat.

Another important object is to make provision for admitting air to thelower end of the stack through an apron that projects outwardly from thestack opening of the vapor bowl.

Another object is to provide a construction which will cause the oil todischarge into the bowl a little at a time and spread over a heatedsurface, so as to quickly gasify and burn, thus avoiding the collectionof any great amount of oil within the burner pan.

Another object is to provide a construction of which most of the parts,at least, can be readily made of sheet metal in ashop that produces tincans and other sheet metal articles.

A further object is to construct the bowl in two sections, a lowersection or pan and an upper section or cover, so as to facilitatecleaning of the deposited carbonaceous matter from the bowl.

Another object is to make provision for feeding the fuel from areservoir and maintaining constant the hydraulic head under which theoil flows from the reservoir.

Other objects and advantages will appear in the sub-joined detaileddescription. The accompanying drawings illustrate the invention.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a smokeless orchard heater constructedin accordance with the provisions of this invention, a portion of theside wall of the reservoir being broken away.

Figure 2 is a plan view of the bowl shown in Fig. 1.

Figure 3 is an enlarged vertical section on the line indicated by 33,Fig. 2, a fragment of the stack also being shown.

Figure 4 is an enlarged sectional detail of the float valve.

Figure 5 is an enlarged plan view of the damper cap.

A louver stack or, in other words, a stack having louvers for theentrance of air to the interior of the stack, as such, is not new, but

those heretofore employed have been substantially straight cylinders andI have found that when so constructed, the louvers have a tendency toburn out after continued use because of being subjected to the intenseheat resultin from the flames in the stack, said flames p aying aboutthe louvers and at times projecting through the louvers.

I therefore provide a louver stack that is considerably wider at thebottom thanthe vaporopening in the to of the bowl, and the stack 1stapered gradua 1y to a smaller diameter at its top, thus providing moreair withm the burning chamber and greater area of radiating surface fora given amount of heat. The louvers in this improved stack do not burnout as-readily as in the straight cylindrical stack, and this not onlyresults 1n eater economy but avoids the inconvemence of having toreplace the stack while the heater is in use and, in general, improvedresults are secured.

The stack is indicated, in general, b the character 8, and the bottom ofthe stac has an apron 9 that extends slightly aslant downwardly andinwardl to the vapor opening 10 in the top of a bowl which comprises apan 11 and a cover 12. The apron 9 is provided with air ports 13. Thestraight joint portion 14 of the stack is provided with an internalannular shoulder 15 which engages the upper end of the thimble 16 whenthe stack is in place, to limit the distance to which the stack slidesdownwardly upon the thimble. The thimble 16 continues upwardly the vaporopening 10 so as to communicate said opening with the stack.

The cover 12 telescopes upon the pan 11 which, it will be noted, isrelatively shallow. In this instance, the bowl 11, 12 is elongate, theopenin 10 being near one end and there being provided near the other endan igniting opening 17 surrounded by a cylindrical flange 18 and closedby a damper cap 19, the rim of the cap being corrugated to provideairports 20 through which air can pass between the flange 18 and cap 19.The cap 19 is provided in its top with ports 21 and the flow of airthrough said ports is regulated by a damper 22 which is pivoted at 23 sothat it can be turned to different positions to bring ports 24 in thedamper into or out of registration with the ports 21. The bowl 11, 12 isprovided in its interior with a plate 25 provided with a turned-upflange 26. In

this instance, the plate 25 is positioned be-' neath the opening 17 andextends aslant downwardl toward the opening 10. At the level 0 the upperedge of the flange 26, the side walls 27 of the bowl are rovided withlouvers 28, which thus admit air to the bowl in a plane substantiallcoextensive with. the plane of the rim 0 the pan 25. The pan 25 isprovided near its center with a port 29, and surrounding said port is atubular horizontal sleeve 30 into whichis telescoped a tubular nipple 31of an 011 hne 32, there being an external shoulder 33 on the line 32 tolimit the distance to which the line 32 is inserted in the sleeve 30 Thesleeve 30 just projects through acircular opening 34 in one end of thecover 12.

In this instance the pan 25 is constructed separate from the bowl and isretained in osition therein by a lug or lugs 35 projecting up from thefloor of the pan 11 and posi-v tioned to engage the lower edge oftheplate. Near its upper edge, the plate 25 is provided wit-h a pair ofspaced blades 36 which rest upon the floor of the pan 11.

The oil line 32 is provided with a valve 37 to regulate the flow of oilthrough said line, and is secured at the end opposite to that having thenipple 31 to an oil reservoir 38, said oil line entering the reservoirand having in the interior of the reservoir a flexible portion 39constructed of some flexible material that will not be injured byimmersion in the oil A in the reservoir. The tube 39 connects with anipple 40 projecting from a valve chamber 41, a duct 42 extendingthrough the nipple 40. Extending transversely of the duct 42 andcommunicating therewith is a port 43 provided at its inner end with avalve seat 44 on which is adapted to close a valve plug 45, the stem 46of which is screwed into the valve chamber 41.

The valve chamber 41 projects from the bottom of a float 47 constructedof suitable material and in a manner to cause it to float upon or nearthe surface of the oil A. The construction of the float 47 need not bedescribed in detail herein as such floats are well understood in the artrelating to floatcontrolled valves.

It will be readily seen that, as the level of the oil A in the reservoir38 lowers, because of consumption of the oil in the heater, the port 43where the oil enters the oil line remains at a constant level withrespect to the oil level, thus maintaining constant the hydraulic headto which the oil entering the port 43 is subjected.

As indicated at 48 in Fig. 1, the louver stack 8 may be provided with acylindrical extension, preferably imperforate. The construction andoperation ofthe invention will be understood from the foregoingdescription, and the operation may be briefly dememes scribed asfollows: The cap 19 will be removed and the valve 37 will be openedslightly to admit oil to the plate 25, whereupon a lighting torch ofwell known construction or any other suitable igniting means will bethrust through the opening 17 and held there until the oil flowing intothe pan 25 ignites. The igniting means will then be removed and the cap19 be replaced. Any oil that is not consumed on the plate 25 will flowto the lower end thereof and into the pan 11, and heat from the burningoil will heat the oil that is overflowing sulficiently to vaporize saidoil, and the vapors will pass upwardly into the burning chamber that isformed by the louver stack 8. Here air admitted throughthe louvers andports 14 produces approximately complete combustion of the oil vapors,and the flames will issue from the upper end of the louver stack or, ifthe extension 48 is employed, from the upper end of said extension.

The size of the fire in the burning chamber is controlled entirely atthe damper cap 19, since the volume of oil vapors flowing into the stackis dependent upon the amount of heat to which the oil in the pan 11 issubjected, and the amount of heat due to combustion of the oil on theplate25 is dependent upon the amount of air that is admitted through thedamper 22.

It will be clear from the foregoing, that, as soon as the fire has beenstarted on the plate 25, the volume of the fire can be regulated to anicety by properly adjusting the damper and the valve 37.

As the oil in the reservoir A flows therefrom and lowers the level, thefloat 47 continues in fixed relation to the surface of the oil A andthus does not alter the pressure to which the oil entering the port 43is subjected, the. volume of oil passing from said port into the duct 42being regulated solely y adjustment of the valve plug 45 and, for anygiven adjustment of said valve plug, the rate of flow of oil from theport 43 into the duct 42 and thence to the bowl will be the same whetherthe oil level is higher or lower in the reservoir 38.

I claim:

1. A smokeless orchard heater comprising a bowl provided with a vaporoutlet and with an igniting opening, a closure for the igniting opening,a plate positioned aslant beneath the igniting opening and provided witha port, a sleeve surrounding the port, and an oil line having a nippletelescoped into the sleeve.

2. A smokeless orchard heater comprising a bowl provided with a vaporoutlet and with an igniting opening, a closure for the igniting opening,a reservoir, a float in the reservoir, a valve chamber supported by thefloat and provided with a port, a valve to control said port, and an oilline connecting the valve chamber with the bowl and provided within thereservoir with a flexible portion.

3. A smokeless orchard heater comprising a bowl provided with a vaporoutlet and with an igniting opening, a closure for the igniting opening,a reservoir, 9. float in the reservoir, a chamber supported by the floatand provided with a port, and an oil line connecting the'chamber withthe bowl and 10 provided within the reservoir with a flexible portion.

Signed at Los Angeles, California, this 9 day of June, 1926.

WILLIAM G. SCHEU.

